Eli Langer and the issues of pornography

Canadian visual artist Eli Langer was born in Montreal, Quebec, in 1967. After putting on a solo exhibition of Toronto world art at the Mercer Union Gallery in Toronto in 1993, he gained notoriety. In 50 drawings and 8 paintings, the collection of art explored diverse aspects of early sexuality. Police searched this collection of artwork because it violated Canada's laws protecting children's rights; five paintings and 35 drawings were taken. This caused the incident to become widely publicized in the media, which sparked a national conversation on freedom of expression. As a result, it was a turning point for the young Eli Langer. As a consequence, he became famous and produced numerous artworks which included Shadow Shift, Teen Floor, Interior, Dark Ceiling, Second Line, Rum de rum!, and Gravity toggle. His works are unique in the sense that they portray the real picture of childhood sexual abuse in the society and how the society and cultural values are not acknowledged.

Therefore, it is worth noting that Eli Langer is an artist that has put his talent into solving problems that touch the society in numerous ways. His works have sometimes were subjected to criticism as is the case of 1993 at Mercer Union in Toronto but should not give a bad impression of his works as he advocates for the changes in the society through enlightening the general public what happened.

Analysis of Artist Eli Langer, the Issues of Pornography, and Censorship

Cyber pornography today is threatening to erode our moral fabric in the society. The authorities have found it very hard to capture the spreaders of this vice. This has been largely due to increased used of personal computers and easy access to internet by the minors. Despite all these, our society has assumed normalcy of the issue and termed it as a taboo to talk to the minors about sexual abuse. Langer takes this opportunity and uses his artistic skills to portray how children are exposed to early sex and exploited by senior men in the society, some being the age of their fathers and grandfathers. For instance, Langer’s paintings that were seized by Canada Police Authority in 1973, broke the taboo of sexuality of children, the paintings well-toned in the colors of red and black show children and adults in various forms of sexual play. A naked child sits on the laps of an aged man who in this case might be her grandfather; there is another naked kid on the bed with a fully erect man. Langer’s works are depicted with both horror and ambivalence but what fascinates in these works is that the children are not forced into these acts, they seem to enjoy it. One might have an impression that if replace the kids with an adult woman, one will observe rather ordinary scenes of passion. The children have developed such acts by watching pornographic pictures, movies, and finally, by putting it in practice.

The fact remains that the paintings and the drawings depict poor societal norms by featuring the taboos of the society: children masturbating, performing sexual acts, and having sex with each other. The show is self-conscious, children probing self-excrement in a morally rotten society. The society is left with a big question, where do the minors learn to do such prohibited things. Langer through his works has shown the rotten society despite being ambiguous and using obscene paintings and drawings on the matters prohibited and termed as a taboo in the society.

Through Eli Langer’s work, it can be seen how he courageously and thoughtfully addresses the sexuality of children and its influence on the community. His works face a lot of criticism and the majority of members and public authorities oppose his artistic move. For instance, the authorities use Child Pornography Act to suppress him since his work does not capture the real perpetuators of children sexual abuse. Eli Langer has demonstrated in a clear picture how the larger section of the community wrongly understands issues of minor’s sexual abuse cases.

The society has assumed that sexual abuse should not be discussed in public but a number of people in the society feel the weight of moral degradation. The case of the late artist Ronald Bloore is a good example here. He testified against the court supporting Eli Langer’s work, called his works “marvelous”, and told Eli Langer that he has waited 27 years to repay to the authorities what they have done to his wife. This support was attributed to the arrest of his wife who was charged and prosecuted for exhibiting of an art at his gallery. The historic win of the Mercer Union case by Eli Langer becomes the groundbreaking avenue for the fight on censorship against sexual abuse and pornography in the Canadian society.

Notable artists such as Lisa Steele supported Langer`s work. She viewed this as the time for sexually abused victims to come out and speak for themselves. It became the time for censorship to spread and expose how the society has been silent yet many people suffered in the society. She termed Langer’s artwork as “tapping into levels of disclosure in our society”. The malice of pornography, sexual abuse in our society has been a top secret even though it existed, and by the continuous assumption that all is well in the society yet the young generation is being eroded away morally through adult’s acts.

Scientists have argued that modernity and technological changes are the major contributors of sexual abuse in minors. Just as the society has turned back on not discussing issues of sexual abuse in minors, the media has been advised not to display the pictures that might cause sexual arousal in the public or are immoral. There should be an introduction of the educative programs on media channels, so that the minors are acquainted with the effects that accompany them upon engaging in search acts. This is contrary to when the young are left to acquire such knowledge by themselves as they end up watching pornographic pictures and movies.

The society’s risks having no future generation if it assumes all is well and not respond to issues of children abuse. Most cases of child abuse goes unreported and for those reported, no proper action is taken against them so that such acts are not repeated. The parliament should pass laws protecting minors against sexual abuse; victims of abuse should be given an opportunity to express themselves so that the society gets to the bottom cause of these acts in our lives today. Besides that, the whole world is suffering as many people are infected by the deadly AIDS virus. As such, no one knows who is infected and is not unless you are a close relative, the minors risk being infected unknowingly if these sexual abuses are not stopped or ways are put in place to curb down the situation. The spread of poor and immorally art like for the case of Eli Langer`s work, is the genesis of such mess in the society.

If at all cost censorship worked in Canada, it would be the best place to ever live. The avoidance of all issues that are meant to bring about sexual abuse is the cause for its spread. Racism, sexual abuse and degradation of women would vanish with their representations, especially if all forms of art that propagates them are banned. However, this has not been the case and by use of common sense, it will never be the case for this society in Canada. In this regard, most of the people in Canada have survived through the hard conditions that revolve around sexual abuse, racism, women degradation and at the same time watch the pornographic pictures and movies to an extend that it has become a norm in the society. As such, these acts have remained a big problem to the development of a morally upright generation.

Despite the issue of censorship being a hard topic of discussion in Canadian society, Eli Langer’s artistic works were the eye openers to the general public. When Langer won the case and the Supreme Court allowed his works, the public was in jubilation as most of them were against the Child Pornography act that was hurriedly passed in legislative process without involving the public. This is what happens when the government imposes unwanted laws to the public. Therefore, there is need to involve the public when making decisions in the parliament. As much as the process of censorship takes a toll in Canada, there is massive development of it in other parts of the world. For instance, across the Europe there is a rise in censorship with lots of book banning being experienced since the days of Nazis. The American Library Association had reported a threefold increase in book banning as from 1979. The most censored books were The Diary of Ann Frank, Catcher in the Rye, 1984, Of Mice and Men, and many more were banned. In regard to this, the motives of banning might have been good but the results have always been bad since the things that have been done in open are now done in behind the scenes. It should be clear that banning of pornographic movies, pictures, and books is not the end of the sexual abuse in the society. The vice has deepened its roots into the lives of the people, and few will be ready to change automatically, since the majority of the people will resolve into other means of watching and engaging into immoral acts. Though this vice should be kicked out of the society, the method and ways to be used have not been discovered.

Watching of pornographic materials has not only caused sexual abuse of minors. When AIDS pandemic broke in the world, there were myths all over the world of the possible ways of killing the virus. For instance, there were stories that an infected person was likely to be healed after having sexual acts with a virgin of opposite sex. In this regard, many young girls and boys were molested with infected adults in order to be healed. Therefore, it is imperative to focus on the banning and censorship as a way of suppressing the rise in sexual abuse of minors. Other factors causing these acts in the society must be considered and taken care of.

Many countries still has challenges revolving around child sexual abuse. For instance, Africa has still cases of traditional marriages between minors and the old men in the society in the exchange of wealthy. In most cases, this takes place where in pastoralists’ communities where they regard wealthy with number of heads of cattle one has. Therefore, the poor parents are normally enticed and they end up giving their daughters in exchange of cattle in order to gain the social status in the community. In this regard, censorship cannot be applied but this kind of society requires a formal education and informing the parents not to view their young daughters as a get quick scheme. The children should also receive formal education so that they are not idle at home and ending up married early.

Langer’s good artistic works in the society became the eye opener to the general public despite a number of shortcomings that cannot be solved through the sensitization of the public. As such, there is need to find the root of each cause of sexual abuse in the society and why most of the victims prefer keeping silent about the abuse. The society should also play a major role in suppression of these vices. Since the perpetuators of these act live within us and we should help the authority catch up with them. Only through participation of both the public and the authorities, they will be able to suppress these vices in the society.



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